Peter Burns shares why parity in the SEC could be 'fascinating' this fall

On Day 1 of SEC Media Days in Atlanta, SEC Network voice Peter Burns joined TexAgs' own David Nuño to dive into storylines of teams around the league, including quarterback discussion, talk about Texas A&M under Mike Elko and much more.

Key notes from Peter Burns interview

• Where’s the tequila? You can’t be sponsored by a tequila company and not have it at least like a gift. I get not having it in the mornings. Maybe a little Bloody Mary situation wouldn’t be terrible, but in the afternoon, I feel like it should be on the table for everybody.
   
• Let’s start with not knowing the teams. It’s easily the most naked I have been going into SEC Media Days. Traditionally, before 2020, you knew this was Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 of a program they’re building up. Right now, I'm talking to guys at Ole Miss trying to figure out who’s on their roster. They have four starters returning. Same thing with LSU. A lot of it over the past year or two is talking about Name Image and Likeness, the House settlement and transfer portal rules. We haven’t really talked about football.
   
• I'm excited to learn about the teams. I talked to Brian Kelly yesterday, and part of that conversation was how much you know your team when you stride over to SEC Media Days. He said, “I have an idea, but guess what, I had an idea we'd be pretty good on defense last year, but we weren’t.” These guys are just trying to figure it out with us.
   
• As far as LSU, I think defensively it's the biggest group that will make the largest jump this year. If you go back and look at Blake Baker, he got that defense ripping. Last year, his hands were tied. Basically, they didn’t have the personnel they got after Bryce Underwood didn’t go to Michigan. LSU was flushed with a lot of NIL opportunities.
   
• Basically, what LSU did was have a shopping list, and one was bringing back Garrett Nussmeier, and the other was making sure the secondary and linebacker core held. My only concern was the defensive end up front. That’s why A&M is going to be a horrendous matchup for them this upcoming season, seeing what Marcel Reed can do as well as running the ball.
   
• No one is putting out a depth chart. No one really plays a spring game. The access to the practices are probably as buttoned up as we’ve ever had. There’s a lot less local media to have the opportunity and the budget to do things, so you combine these things, and the easy thing to do is to talk about the big picture.
   
• Is there going to be eight or nine SEC teams? Is there going to be a college football expansion? And the House settlement? If I hear “House settlement” one more time... I’m sure your viewers are sick of this crap, and we are as well. Coaches are as well. This is the first time we can get into actual football.
   
• LSU, for example, Nic Anderson is over there with Barion Brown and Aaron Anderson. It’s like, “How much do you really know about these players?” They don't know. I had asked a coach a couple of years ago before he got on the podium, “How much do you know?” He said, “You know more about my roster right now than I do.” Because there is so much turnover every year, I think it creates a lot of parity, and I dont know if it's a bad thing for college football.
   
• The top tier is very vulnerable, and the second tier is where you have those guys like Nussmeier, LaNorris Sellers, and I'd put DJ Lagway in that conversation, as well. That’s why when the league looks like this, it's like, “Wait a minute. We have a lot of damn good teams that could go 9-3.” When you compare it to the NFL, you have that type of season compared to a 17-game season… You are a playoff team. Is it the same as the ACC and Big Ten?
   
• I jokingly said that the Big Ten is kind of a pyramid scheme of a conference. You have the top two, and maybe you add three with Penn State. Then everybody else contributes to the high-level part. Top to bottom, I think now you're talking about 11-12 teams that could have some good success. You have Kentucky, which beat Ole Miss on a good day, and that could happen, so I don't think it's bad for the league. I think there are five or six teams that could be in Atlanta this year, so I think that's great.
   
• At some point, if you're going to be a College Football Playoff team, and you know who your dude is at quarterback... You bring him here. For no other reason, he’s going to be involved in the pump, and we want to know these guys, too. It doesn’t shock me with how Elko does business, but I would’ve loved to see Reed here this week.
   
• Towards the end of A&M’s season, there might’ve been players on the defense who were already counting the NFL dollars. When the season was kind of “still up to grabs,” but there might’ve been some check out factor of some of those guys... Yeah, it only bolsters the reason why I would’ve loved to see Reed here and go, “Hey, I’m the leader of this program, and I want to make A&M football something different than 8-4.”
   
• Someone earlier asked me, “What do you figure with A&M?” Someone behind me went, “8-4!” It’s on Mike Elko to change that. We did a segment on our show on the ESPN Football Power Index, but it had A&M as the third-best chances to make it to Atlanta.
   
• I’m fascinated. I think Ole Miss takes a step back. I’d be shocked if Tennessee doesn’t take a step back. I think Vanderbilt struggles a little more, even though I think they’re a little deeper than last year.
   
• I’d say there may be a head coaching change next year but also, I don’t think athletic directors want to pay buyouts. Jimbo Fisher was the last robber in the world of buyouts.
   
• Had that happened two years prior, would you be more apt to have kept Fisher, or still would oil money have popped up and found a way to pay the $65 million? It’s like the butterfly effect of timing and all these things. It’s like we’re going back to Daunte Culpepper and Drew Brees' shoulders. If that didn’t work out, he would’ve gone to play for Saban and the Dolphins, and he might not have gone to Alabama.
   
• Kellen Mond was the last time you had a certifiable, “this is our guy for the season” quarterback. And again, how many other programs throughout the country are deep enough that if you lose your QB1… What would Alabama's record be if Jalen Milroe hadn’t been out there? If LSU goes down and Jayden Daniels is out, they have to play a backup quarterback. I’m just trying to stay healthy until the season.